


Puppy Love

by fanflock



Category: Hustle Cat
Genre: Canon Non-Binary Character, Non-binary Avery, Other, POV First Person, Puppy Love, Trans Character, Trans Male Character
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-06-24
Updated: 2016-06-24
Packaged: 2018-07-17 23:37:23
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,858
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7290685
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fanflock/pseuds/fanflock
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Embarrassing crushes come and go, but Reese is a happily taken man now. That's all behind him.</p><p>Unfortunately, between a gossipy co-worker's teasing and his own prying partner, he just can't catch a break.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Puppy Love

**Author's Note:**

> Alternate title: I love Reese so much and also have a lot of trans headcanons

Cat Detail days were objectively the best days.

I still haven’t transformed into a cat personally, though Finley’s managed to get the hang of it and offered to teach me many times. I’m honestly a little curious about how I’d look too, but it’s become a matter of pride. Finley learns what breed I am, I’ve lost, and I don’t think I can transform at all without her magical potential-gossip senses going off and giving me away instantly.

So, I sit among the cats as a human, which is pretty nice as is. The gossipy internet star herself has deigned to join me for the moment, taking prime position across my shoulders as I toss toys for Bramblepelt to attack with all her might (her might being, in actuality, very small, and easily distracted.)

“Avery,” Reese calls out, before he’s even fully descended the stairs. “Have you seen Finley?”

“She’s with me,” I say, waving him over to the pile of fur and cat toys we were sat in.

“I’m on break,” Finley chimes in, talking freely with no customers around. “Avery and I are bonding~.”

I snort. “We are?”

“Of course. Hanging out, cuddling, heart-to-hearting our little hearts out.” She hops down to settle in my lap, rolling around with great flourish. “Jealous?” Reese rolls his eyes at her, seeing through the completely transparent teasing.

“Hardly. Avery would never leave me for a _calico_. They better taste than that.” Reese shoots me a little smirk, and it’s too cute to not smile back. Finley gives the most dramatic gasp I’ve ever heard, bounding off my lap.

“Why I never. And Avery, sanctioning this bullying. Just when I was about to share my tragic back story with you.” She flops down on the carpet, rolling over in a pitiful display. I laugh and poke her in the stomach repeatedly. Reese joins in, nudging at her with his foot, until Finley finally gets tired of our gentle heckling.

“You’re both awful, treating me like this.” She stamps her tiny floor on the carpet, making absolutely no sound. “Where’s human resources? I’m going to report the two of you so hard!”

“That would be me,” Reese replies, finally sitting down next to us.

“Don’t you mean cat resources?” I ask, with a wink and a nudge. Reese rolls his eyes.

“Cat jokes. I’d hoped you’d run out of those.”

“I would ne-fur.” Finley giggles, and Reese lets out of huff, which is basically the same thing for him.

“Aww, look at you two,” Finley purrs, rubbing up against my knee. “I could never break you guys up.” She settles her gaze on Reese with those sly eyes of hers. “And it’s nice seeing Reese finally pining over someone who isn’t-“

Reese moves so quickly it’s almost like he used his teleportation spell. Finley is in his arms, bundled in the front of his jacket with his hands around her face. He missed her mouth by like an inch, but the whiplash was enough to shut her up already.

“DON’T YOU DARE.” He stares down at her wide eyed, somewhere between manic and petrified. Interesting... Finley takes a moment to readjust herself to a more comfortable position before the sly eyes are back in full effect.

“Ooooh, blushy blushy,” she snickers at his beet red face, the power of his embarrassment shining through his darker skin.

“Ooooh indeed. Tell me more,” I say, clasping my hands to stare my boyfriend down. He shoots me a betrayed look. He’s too cute for me to stop just yet though.

“Aaah, I suppose you weren’t at the cafe too long before you won him over yourself. You never got to experience the full grandeur of Reese’s previous crush.” Finley is having the time of her life, and I sort of am too.

“Finley! If you say another word I’m enacting my power as assistant manager and firing you!” Reese tries to stare her down, but even at his best he’d be no match for her.

“So it’s someone at the cafe, huh?” I push on. “Can we play twenty questions? Are they tall? A mineral? Bigger than a loaf of bread?”

“Yes, no, and usually!” Finley replies. Reese doesn’t say anything. He’s still got a hold on Finley, but he’s slowly curling into himself, like a sausage cooked in the heat of his own embarrassment. Maybe it’s time to ease up on him. Besides, there weren’t many people working at the cafe; it wouldn’t be hard to guess...

The door bell chimes, signalling a customer entering. Landry is on them instantly, but it’s enough to force our conversation to an end, at least until Finley gets a chance to change back.

“Alright, enough teasing Reese for today.” I poke Finley in the forehead and stand up. Reese loosens his grip enough for her to step out. She doesn’t risk talking with a customer here, but shoots me a solid look of ‘you’re no fun.’ I nudge her with my toe. “Break time’s over anyway.”

Reese stands up and brushes himself off, staring Finley down. He’s not going to risk leaving us alone together. With a dramatic sigh, she relents, wandering off toward the kitchen to change back. I pull Reese in for a quick side hug, squeezing him tight.

“I won’t let her gossip anymore today. Go back to work before your face implodes.” He snorts, carefully putting his poker face back on.

“Yeah, you better not.” He’s gruff, but he squeezes back, and wanders back upstairs. True to my word, I shut Finley down when she inevitably comes back to continue our conversation. Out of the corner of my eye, I see Reese watching me do so from the upstairs balcony. I give hi a half salute before returning to the cats. I just catch his smile as I do.

* * *

 

Despite my tortuous teasing, Reese still comes over to mine after work, as previously planned. For how flustered he gets, his rebound time is incredible, and he’s back to his usually bratty self before we even close up.

Now, back at home, we’re resting on the couch together, shoulder to shoulder. Reese had his usual complain about my messy apartment the moment we walked in, along with my clothes, my decor, the fact I still hadn’t gotten any new DVDs in the months we’d been dating (we’ve watched Finding Nemo at least 4 times by now. Thank Netflix that number isn’t higher.) In the end we put on some kids show about witches, which Reese had a great time complaining at about the accuracy (or lack thereof) of their magic, while we ate.

Dinner finished, Thai boxes aside, TV off, I take a moment to enjoy the silence. Reese is lost in thought, tapping a rhythm on his leg. He’s warm, and smells like Goong Sabai and new clothing. He’s pretty cute in these moments when he’s quiet, thought I’ve definitely warmed up to his obnoxious side, so I suppose it’s a moot point. I still think it’s nice. The moment is almost too good to ruin.

“It was Graves wasn’t it.”

Almost.

The reaction is delayed, gears taking a moment to turn before the inevitable realization. Reese does a very bad job of not freezing up, which tells me that he absolutely knows what I’m talking about.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” he states, with the self-assurance of a man who desperately wishes he was telling the truth. It’s pretty endearing how godawful he is at lying. I get all up in his face and poke his cheek.

“You had a crush on Graves,” I drawl. If not for the soft warmth of his cheeks, Reese could be mistaken for a statue, limbs rusted in place not by a witch, but his own poorly concealed embarrassment.

“I- I did not! You should know better than to trust whatever Finley says.”

“Well first of all, we both know Finley’s gossip is always, unfortunately, completely reliable, and secondly, she didn’t tell me a thing.” I can feel his brightly flushed face heating my own.

“I thought you said you were going to drop it,” he says, changing gears at the speed of desperation.

“I’m kind enough to drop it around Finley, but not enough to let up teasing you in private.”

“Traitor!” Reese is stuck somewhere between the dregs of his denial and mortified acceptance, and I take the opportunity to wrap my arms around him, swaddling him like a new born kitten in my ratty, pizza stench hoodie.

“Aww come on, it’s cute.” His grunt sounds disagreement. “Though I didn’t think goths would be your type. Or, ya know, the middle aged.” The boy lets out a loud groan and shoves me away, the movement all bark (meow?) and no bite. He follows up by draping himself across the couch in a sulk, head in my lap, glaring out at the trash heap that is my living room. I give a soft giggle at his expense, and he burrows further into the fabric of my pants.

I decide to give him a break to stew in his own embarrassment, and reach out to stroke his hair. Short and soft on the sides, longer and silky on top; it feels nice on my fingers, and has the added benefit of making the boy melt in my hands. I don’t know whether it’s a hangover from his days as a cat, or if he’s always been like this, but no matter how worked up he is I know he can’t resist being pet like this.

“Ya know he knew my dad when they were younger.” He murmurs against my leg. I don’t let up stroking his hair.

“Yeah, you’ve mentioned it.” He grunts, letting his eyes slip closed.

“I’ve known Graves basically my whole life. He was always there. I mean, not physically. He’s been this mysterious and flaky his whole life.” I chuckle. Even when he’s opening up, that bratty part of him is still right there. “He helped me a lot growing up. Not just with magic.” He pauses for a moment, fiddling with his shirt. “Like with trans stuff too. He knew a lot more than my parents did.” Ah. I give him a moment, not wanting to accidentally interrupt this rare bout of honestly, before replying.

“That must have been nice, not having to flounder around on your own.” I thought back to my own younger years, and how much easier things would have been if someone had even been able to tell me there were words for what I was feeling. Reese and I had talked about this before, though briefly. He hadn’t seemed keen to open up, so I hadn’t asked. To each their own, ya know.

“Yeah, it was.” His eyes flick up to me, just for a moment. “So whatever, I admire him a lot, that’s all. It’s not weird. You got a problem with it?”

“Depends. Are you planning on leaving me for our boss? Cause that’d make work awkward.” He sputters.

“What?! No!”

“Good,” I laugh. “Then we have nothing to worry about. Like I told you, it’s cute. You having a puppy crush on the big bad boss man.” It’s so cute, way cuter than I can describe to him. He always did look up to Graves more than the rest of us, but I still of wish I could have been around to see it in full force.

“Well I’m glad you’re having fun with this,” he grumbles. His head is still in my lap, so that’s a good sign.

“Alright, how about we make it even then,” I offer. He stares up at me warily. “I’ll tell you about one of my old crushes.” He snorts softly.

“If it’s someone I don’t know from back in that farm town of yours, it doesn’t count,” he says, but he rolls over, looking up with some kind of interest.

“Aww, but I was just about to wax poetic about Chun from 1st grade and the way he shared his gel pens with me.”

“What kind of dirt is that? No good. Next.”

“Alright, truth: back when I first started working at the cafe, I had a baby crush on Mason.” Reese’s eyebrows shoot up, assessing my face for any hint of trickery.

“Mason? Really? She could _actually_ crush you, one handed.”

“Oh my god, I know right?” I clutched dramatically at my chest. “Those arms!” Reese sits up, rolling his eyes.

“Yeah sure, go on about how hot your other crush in front of your boyfriend. That’ll really get me going.”

“Hey, you asked!” I pull him in to kiss at the corner of his mouth. Unsatisfied, he pulls me back for a proper kiss, greedy as he is. He still tastes like Thai. It’s nice.

“You know,” he says, pulling back with that worrying smirk. “If you really want to make even with me, we’ll have to inform Finley of your little secret.”

“No.” I get up, grabbing our take out boxes as I go.

“It’s not fair if I’m the only one she has dirt on.”

“Nope.”

“I bet she’d have a field day with that one.”

“It’s not gonna happen.”

“But-“

“NO.”

* * *

 

Finley doesn’t find out, at least as far as I know. I haven’t been cheerfully accosted by her, so I’m going to guess Reese didn’t go through on his threats. I’m glad; that girl has enough on the rest of us to last a lifetime.

The whole thing goes out of my mind for the few weeks after. Graves is around more since the Nacht situation has been sorted out, but given how little he was around before it’s not saying much. He’s been training Reese again, properly now that he has his true knack sorted out. Reese still looks up to him, both figuratively and literally, but not in the way Finley implied. There’s respect, and the fishing for praise, but that’s par for the course with him. It’s nice to see them together like that

Graves invites me for a coffee with him after work on evening. Most of the others have gone already, though I can still hear Hayes washing up in the kitchen. Graves doesn’t interrupt him, instead making the coffee himself. We sit in comfortable silence up on the balcony, looking out over the cafe below, until Graves starts the conversation.

“I feel like I should apologize for stealing away your paramour so often. He’s still got a lot to learn.”

“Nah, it’s cool. I love the guy, but I oughta thank you for giving me a break every once in a while.” My heart stutters over that one word as it falls out of my lips. If Graves noticed, he didn’t comment.

“Yes, he can be a bit much, but I think you’re well up to the challenge.” He grins into his coffee mug. “I must say I am thankful he’s found someone of a more suitable age to set his sights on.” Ah. I sip at my mug, suddenly glad that Reese left early today.

“So you knew about that huh?”

“Yes, I did pick up on it after a while. I never brought it up. I thought it best to let him grow out of it on his own. And he has done a lot of growing lately, hasn’t he?” Graves’ tone is fond, a soft smile playing at his lips. Forty year old goth men have no right to be that cute, honestly.

“Every way but up,” I reply. We sit in silence for a few moments, as is wont to happen with Graves, before I speak up. “He told me you helped him when he was younger, with being trans. That was cool of you.”

“Ah yes. I didn’t do much, in all honestly; just gave him the pieces to understand.” Yup, ain’t that the Graves way. “Though it does help to have someone with first-hand experience on your side in these matters.” That makes me look up. Did he just...? He’s watching the cats downstairs, as casual as if commenting on the weather. But I suppose it’s not that big of a deal, really. I’m trans, Reese is trans, and so is Graves. We flock together, apparently.

“Yeah, it does.” Just as quiet falls again, my phone buzzes. I pull it out to check; a message from Reese.

_thai place messed up my order. free pad thai at mine_

Something must have shown on my face, whether it was the fondness for Reese or hunger for a free dinner, because Graves catches it.

“Ah, I’m keeping you two apart again. Go, pay me no mind. Be with the one your heart desires.” I snort, picking up my bag.

“That was cheesy, even for you.” I down the last of my coffee and duck downstairs.

“Look after him. He has a tender heart.” Graves voice rings out, the darkness outside hiding my rolling eyes as I head out, looking forward to another night of good food, toothless insults, and that silly, tender hearted boy I like.


End file.
